The Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration (OWCA) has posted a draft of the updated chronic pain guideline. The Office has included the following message on the homepage of the Louisiana Workforce Commission website about submitting comments:

Please submit any comments/suggestions/opinions in writing via mail or the OWCA@lwc.la.gov email address. The draft is presented in the Notice of Intent format two different ways:

The Red-Line Version shows all the edits. Red font denotes a change (Strikethrough = delete; Underline = add). Remember “…” means there were no changes to that section but it will still be in Title 40. The 3 highlighted areas are under discussions with the Medical Advisory Council at this time.

The Clean Version shows what would be printed in the Louisiana Register if all existing changes were accepted. The APA process takes a minimum of five months. Once everything has been properly vetted, OWCA will still conduct a public hearing during the APA process to ensure everyone has a chance to communicate concerns. We do NOT have a projected date to file Guideline-related NOI at this time.”

The Medical Advisory Council has been working on the update for some time, and the guideline was discussed at the recent Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC) meeting last week. Read coverage of that here. OWCA Director Sheral Kellar, as well as WCAC Vice-Chair Chuck Davoli, were emphatic that the Office wants any and all comments to be submitted in this round, before the Notice of Intent is actually filed, so that the process does not have to go through several rounds of public meetings.

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